Contrasting fortunes for England’s Smiths ahead of Ireland Six Nations clash

England are sweating over the fitness of young fly-half Fin Smith ahead of their Six Nations clash with table-toppers Ireland at Twickenham on Saturday.

The Northampton Saints playmaker was the only member of England head coach Steve Borthwick’s squad who did not participate in a training session on Tuesday as he recovers from a calf injury.

In a race to be fit

With only Thursday’s main training session left before the highly anticipated encounter against the men from the Emerald Isle, time is running out for the 21-year-old to prove his fitness.

Smith is in his breakthrough season in the international arena and won his two England caps off the replacements bench against Italy and Scotland as George Ford’s back-up but could miss out on selection for the Ireland Test.

“We have tried to look after him the last couple of days and we are hoping he will be in full training on Thursday. We are looking after him,” said skills and kicking coach Kevin Sinfield.

If Fin Smith is not ruled fit to face Ireland, then Marcus Smith is available to take his spot amongst England’s replacements.

The Harlequins star was sidelined for the Red Rose’s first three Six Nations matches – against Italy, Wales and Scotland – also due to a calf injury, but could even challenge Ford for a sport in the run-on side if Borthwick opts to make significant changes after his team’s 30-21 defeat to the Scots at Murrayfield on February 24.

“Fly-half is a position where we have plenty of strength, so Steve will make that call on Thursday after the session. If everyone comes through on Thursday, Steve has obviously got a headache,” Sinfield said.

“To have Marcus available having not had him available throughout the Six Nations is a big boost for everybody.

“Not only with what he brings on the field, but off the field as well. He has got some bounce about him, a big smile, and he loves being out on the training field. He has had a big impact this week.

“He comes in and is himself all the time, so we missed him in those first few weeks. I’ve loved working with him, and he’s an incredible talent. He can play, that boy.”

Borthwick is set to announce his squad for the Ireland Test on Thursday and will be looking for an improved effort from his troops after their underwhelming performance at Murrayfield.

It was the Red Rose’s fourth successive Calcutta Cup loss, and they battled to gain attacking momentum as they committed 25 handling errors.

“That was an anomaly for us. We certainly haven’t seen that throughout training at all,” added Sinfield.

‘Some of it is difficult to understand’

“We’ve worked particularly hard in trying to understand why it happened. Some of it is difficult to understand.

“When you’re trying to understand why someone’s dropped a ball, or someone’s thrown a pass without looking where the pass is going, there’s a bit more to it than the numbers.

“We’re trying to understand the people, what they are feeling and what they are seeing at that moment in time. So we’ve delved pretty deep into that.

“We put some balls down in the Scotland game, why that is we’ll never know for sure. But what we have to try to make sure is that it doesn’t happen again.”

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